caulfield12

Humber/Floyd problems continue... That ball was crushed. Had him down 0-2 and got afraid to make a mistake. Maxwell's going to get drilled next time after the way he was acting there. Went OVER the top of the foul pole, so it will be really hard to prove it was fair...hopefully the angle can show a clear call, but doubt they'll overrule. We'll see.

Underrated White Sox farm system, producing pitchers galore. Of course, we'll probably put up a crooked number on him eventually.

QUOTE (sunofgold @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:47 PM) It is a team effort. S'ace has been a large part of our success. But we have gotten contributions from everybody. PK is hitting close to .400, Adam Bomb is adambombin'. De Aza has been a spark in the leading spot. If we didn't have CS, then KW could have made another trade for a starter. also Dr. Quin looks promising. also, Danks and Floyd and Humber are capable of pitching better. Who was KW possibly going to trade to get another starter? If anything, we were going to deal Floyd to build for the future in the offseason or at some point during this season.

QUOTE (oldsox @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 10:51 PM) Denver Post speculated today (6/10) that Padres will offer 3B Chase Headley. Another possibility for a more journeyman 3B, and less expensive in trade, is Rockies infielder Cris Nelson. Tulo is coming off DL in a week or so, Nelson would be available. He is okay defensively, can hit a little bit. An upgrade over what we have now at third. NL to AL conversion is always scary now. They're going to go for a bigger upgrade than Nelson, a name player like Youkilis. Its always been KW's style to go big, except for Geoff Blum in 2005. Not to mention the Indians have the same problem at 3B if Chisenhall doesn't hit or Hannahan can't come back. The scarier thing would be if they added Quentin to go with Sizemore and Choo...if they could actually stay healthy and productive. Whether they can afford to add $3-4 million in salary after taking on Jimenez's deal is another question, plus dumping more prospects when they're still in building mode.

QUOTE (flavum @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:20 PM) Holmberg is in High-A at age 20. The bottom line (if I can borrow a phrase from Frank Thomas) is that it was an awful trade given the situation the Sox were in at the time. Does that mean Holmberg and Hudson will haunt the Sox for the next decade? Maybe not. But for now, it doesn't look good. But if the Sox win the World Series this year, they can hit the reset button and not care about any move made from November 2005 to October 2012. It isn't awful if it taught KW not to mortgage the entire future for a single season, or NOT to give up on young pitching after just 3 starts. If he makes the same mistake and deals Mitchell this year for pitching, it will be disappointing. Still, with DeAza/Viciedo/Rios, we have the OF covered for the next 2 1/2 seasons. Holmberg's like the #8 prospect for the DBacks. Who's to say Quintana isn't just as good already, or Santiago?

QUOTE (GreenSox @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:09 PM) There was nothing good about either E Jax trade. The DBacks were mired in an awful season, looking to dump salary with their 5+ ERA pitcher. Williams ends up giving them our top pitching prospect plus the top prospect in the low minors. Notably, the D Backs are Williams' top trading partner. ONe year later, Williams is holding the top SP available at the deadline. He gets a career AAA pitcher from the Jays and a career middle reliever that we didn't need. Was this the result of Williams sending out his scouts to scour the farm system of potential trading partners (like he should have done)? This is the best he could do? Notably, Williams executed two more trades with the Jays. It's not quite fair to call Stewart a career AAA pitcher, although he hasn't pitched well for us and looks like a bust. At the time, he had started a number of games for the Blue Jays at the major league level after having been converted from relieving. Frasor wasn't a bad move...teams can always use veteran RH relief pitchers, but he also wasn't good for us. Once again, the Jackson trade as much as anything was about dumping Teahen from the roster, unfortunately. Without eliminating Frasor, maybe we can't afford Thornton, Crain or Floyd are already rebuilding right now. Molina also doesn't look good, but where is Santos? With Reed and Jones, we had plenty of depth, it was worth the shot at adding to the starting rotation...so far, it hasn't really worked out for either team. In the end, recovery moves like Humber, DeAza and Quintana, to name a few, have masked the botched moves. Along with Jones and Reed, Santiago and Axelrod have helped to fortify the bullpen. We weren't planning on using Molina until late this season, anyway. The risk on Viciedo looks to have been the right one. As a GM, you don't need every move to work out in your favor. Chris Sale becoming an ace and Jake Peavy returning to form make up for a lot of sins.

Alejandro De Aza is having a scrapheap superfind season for the White Sox, posting a .389 OBP as the everyday leadoff man Juan Pierre could only dream of being. You’d be hard-pressed to meet folks beyond Chicago’s South Side who’ve noticed. What’s worth noting is that all these guys have OPS+ marks above 110. A total of 16 center fielders do so far this season. That’s why I’m bemused by the concept of average not meaning quite the same thing for center fielders these days. Center fielders as a group posted a 104 OPS+ in 2011 and 101 in 2010, but right now, major league center fielders are posting a collective 110 OPS+. It's probably no coincidence that the center fielder with the worst OPS+, Marlon Byrd, was designated for assignment Saturday. What this adds up to is that center field is moving up in the world. Among the position-playing positions, center fielders currently rank behind only the right fielders (115 OPS+) for production and are even a bit better than the first basemen (109). While MLB-wide offense is essentially flat this year relative to last, the center fielders as a group are doing better, a lot better. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/i...generation-next

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/boxing--timot...yz01ooMrzQ5nYcB Decision not bad for boxing? Pacquiao has a rematch clause in his contract, and the date was already determined to be Nov. 10 in the event of a rematch. Bradley even had a mock oversized ticket and mock poster printed to show off during the promotion to show people his confidence. Bradley (29-0, 12 KOs) didn't sound like a man who thought he won the fight. "It was a good fight. Every round was pretty close," Bradley said. "Pacquiao won the early rounds, I won the later rounds with my jab. I have to go home and see the tape to see who won." The CompuBox statistics favored Pacquiao, who landed more punches than Bradley in 10 of the 12 rounds. Pacquiao landed 253 of 751 punches (34 percent), while Bradley landed 159 of 839 (19 percent). Pacquiao also landed 82 more power shots (190-108). Although Bradley was game, he didn't seem to land many effective or clean shots. Pacquiao, meanwhile, landed a lot of shots. He shook Bradley several times in the fight, including with a combination late in the third round. "Manny hurt me a few times in the fight with his left," Bradley said. "He's a beast, but my corner told me if I won the last round, I would win the fight. I gotta give Manny a rematch. "Manny was aggressive, but he only landed four or five clean shots. He's a strong puncher, he rocked me a couple times. I withstood it and fought hard to the end." http://espn.go.com/boxing/story/_/id/80322...othy-bradley-jr

The White Sox have only scored 63 runs in the 15 games started by Floyd/Quintana/Axelrod/Stults, for a 4.2 average. In games started by their other four starters, they're averaging 4.98 runs scored. That's 126 fewer runs over the course of a season. In Sale's 11 starts, they've scored 57 runs, 5.2 runs.

70 steals already? Good god, that's like the days of Raines, Henderson and Vince Coleman, Donell and Otis Nixon, Willie Wilson, etc.

It wasn't even a good or entertaining fight. Bradley did next to nothing but just survive and keep his legs under him. Well, it was decent, from the Pacquiao side, and much better than Marquez and Mosley. Pacquiao had Bradley on the ropes and almost ready to go down 3-4 times. Bradley never once hurt Manny in the entire fight, and, for as strong as he looks physically with the carved upper body, "Desert Storm" was about as effective as a pea shooter or Scud Missile in doing any type of damage. It seems Manny overtrained a bit and just didn't quite have enough gas left the final four rounds to mount enough of a threat....but he killed Bradley in rounds 2-7/8.

Upper deck behind the plate are really great seats, as long as it's not cold and windy...or too sunny hot and you're not protected by the roof or overhang. It's the same slant (I think the architectural term is "rake") as Royals Stadium/Kauffman. Now down the lines and at the corners, those seats suck...but still better than many seats in the old stadium, and nothing compared to the obstructed view ones behind the support beams.

Arum will probably sue. Las Vegas just lost a $500 million fight. God, I would never want to watch another Bradley fight, but it seems they already have it lined up for November 10th. The Marquez decision was bad enough last (that one legitimately could have gone either way), but this one was absolutely atrocious. Between boxing and horse racing, horrible weekend for both sports with all the speculation about doping and illegal training methods being the reason they pulled their horse at the Belmont...since he was going to be sequestered/monitored along with all the other horses to prevent any monkey business (Wetzel with Yahoo Sports has a great column). Should have been 8-4 or 9-3, at the VERY worst, it was a 7-5 decision for Pacquiao.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/baseb...0,3532591.story Danks will get two minor league starts with CHARLOTTE starting next week, not just a single one. Quintana with 2 more chances to make his case vs. Humber/Stewart/Santiago for sticking around. Will go against the Dodgers as well.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:13 AM) f*** all the Heat hate. You're not a basketball fan if you're not amped up for LeBron vs Durant for the NBA championship. You probably have to go back to 1991 to find a final that featured by far and away the two best players in the world going at it. I can't wait. Barkley and MJ? Not quite sure Charles was still at the top of his game, but close. Malone and Stockton weren't quite at the top of their games, either.

QUOTE (thxfrthmmrs @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:21 AM) @Intimidators Jeff Soptic just hit 101mph on the radar gun. #ZOOM! #blinkandyoumissedit Only 2 hits given up in 20 at-bats, but 3 ER in 6 1/3 IP. 3 K's, you'd expect him to have 9 or 10, but that part of his game will come around as he learns to pitch and not just throw...the same type of transition Nathan Jones went through. Jared Mitchell 1/2 with 2 BB's. Continuing to put up good OBP numbers. .286.

It's like Atlanta Braves fans in the 90's and early 00's. Getting complacent, assuming Sale will win every start now and not so excited unless he records 10+ K's. Maybe when the score got to be 6-0, everyone turned their attention to the Heat/Celtics, the Belmont Stakes, soccer games in Europe, the fights in Vegas, etc.

QUOTE (Jake @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 11:26 AM) f*** the rangers!!!!!!! They're back to back AL Champions, and honestly should have won a least one World Series title. They deserve everyones' respect, until someone knocks them off. Not as much as we gave the Twins, but healthy respect for their accomplishments and front office acumen under Daniels/Ryan. Can we compete with all the teams in the AL East, the Indians/Tigers and Angels? Sure, probably...as long as Peavy and Sale continue to pitch like aces. Although, all things considered, it's hard to place a team with 3 starting pitchers in the 5.3+ ERA range as the best team in the AL. We're also quite unlucky to get the Twins so many times now that they've risen from rock bottom. Two weeks ago, they were one of the worst teams in baseball. Now they're back to respectable and rising.

QUOTE (Jillian Michaels' Abs @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 10:21 AM) Uncle Jerry will probably demand that Chris Sale be shut down so he won't pitch the last month of the season and not win the Cy Young, so they won't have to pay him like a Cy Young award winner. He's (Chris Sale) under team control through 2016, and won't be eligible for arbitration until after next season...however, they very certainly might look to buy out one or two years of free agency, like the Rays and Indians have typically done with their younger players. Of course, the danger posed by not taking his contract on a year by year basis is that he'll lose at least a season or more to Tommy John surgery when/if his elbow goes out. So all things considered, the White Sox are probably best off waiting until at least the end of 2013 before offering a long range deal to Sale...and that also gives them some time to see what direction the franchise and the Danks contracts are going. I think the front office is much more afraid of an injury than having to reward Chris with a new contract or more money. JR doesn't mind paying performance at all, it's underperformance of free agents which tends to gall him the most.

It should read best team in the AL CENTRAL, but I couldn't edit it later, only a mod can do that. It also should read "inevitably" as the fourth option. Obviously, the White Sox are not better than the Rangers, that's a given. I never said 4th or 5th place or the worst team, although the Royals and Twins (recently on an 8-2 run) are both back to being out of contention for the 1st pick in the draft next June.

Discuss/analyze.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 09:10 AM) Yeah, Nestor Molina. Whatever is right. You are making yourself look like an even bigger fool. And I don't think there is any link to Chris Sale returning to the rotation and Dunn, Rios, Konerko, Beckham, AJP and De Aza hitting well. None. Sale doesn't even appear in 80% of White Sox games. The link is Chris Sale is the best pitcher in the AL right now. Jose Contreras was the best pitcher in baseball as well in 2005-2006. You believe the White Sox can just trot out any minor league journeyman and would have won those those same starts...and had the same record, or a nearly identical one. If that was the case, the 2002-2004 White Sox just won three more AL Central championships thanks to your logic...because those teams had all the offense in the world and still lost to the Twins. How can you explain that, when the Twins were clearly inferior, and the White Sox were much better offensively in those years than they have been in 2012. If Chris Sale wasn't in the starting rotation still, the White Sox wouldn't be in first place and would still be a lot closer to rebuilding than adding pieces for the stretch drive. Who would you have started in those 5 games....this pitcher who was going to go 5-1 or 4-2? Should be an interesting answer.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 08:30 AM) Again with Greg Walker. You do need help. Obviously Chris Sale is the reason the Sox started scoring runs. I'm agreeing with you. We'll just ignore April when they couldn't score at all and he was in the rotation. You're truly a baseball genius. Obfuscating again. So Nestor Molina would be 4-2 or 5-1 if he took Sale's starts, too? In your idea, yes. It's the same reason you're going to argue that the White Sox could have just trotted out any minor leaguer in August, September, October, April and May in 2005/2006 and won all of Jose Contrera's starts as well. You believe there's no link to who the starting pitcher is and how the team performs independently. I believe there's a synergy between the two. But whatever.

And Beckham's even showing flashes of returning to his previous glory. Crosses fingers.

QUOTE (Dick Allen @ Jun 10, 2012 -> 08:16 AM) The answer to question 1, what does that matter now? Question 2, Yes they would. The Sox scored 6,6,4,2 and 10 runs in those starts. They didn't need shutouts, but I'll take the offense riding the inspiration of Chris Sale returning to the starting rotation as the reason they scored these runs. GMAB. You defintely are the Soxtalk version of Mitt Romney. As Frank says, no doubt about it. Just flip flop. Don't try to justify it with things that aren't connected. Coming from the same person who says there's no connection between the results of the offense and who the hitting coach is, then tries to act like Greg Walker miraculously transformed the Braves single-handedly from this offseason's sense of desolation, lol. The White Sox would be 3rd in the AL in runs scored if he was still the hitting coach, too. Sure. You can believe that if you want. It can't be proven to be true or false subjunctively. I'll believe that the White Sox play better when Chris Sale is on the mound, expect to win, and the results would have been dramatically different with any of our minor leaguers out there in his place. But I'll take the Romney comment as a compliment, since Bill Clinton was also commonly accused of the same thing and will go down as one of the most successful presidents in recent history. It's called adjusting your viewpoint/goals/expectations as a result of new evidence.